Chapter 2: The Mosaic Ethnology of Asiatick Jones

William Jones founded the Asiatic Society in 1784 and gave an institutional
form to British scholar-adminstritators and for the most part assumed 
the authority over the older Orientalism.  The earlier writings by
travelers and missionaries, mostly translations from Persian and considered 
authoritative until then were soon eclipsed.  The new Orientalism drew 
authority from its knowledge of Indian languages as compared to eye-witness
accounts of travelers and missionaries.

Trautmann argues that Jones's proposal of the Indo-European language family
can be better understood if we recognize that Jones's project was
primarily ethnological and not linguistic.  The biblical story of Noah
in the book of Genesis provided the framework for this Mosaic ethnology.
(the book of Genesis is attributed to Moses). Two of his sources were 
ethnological writings by Jacob Bryant and Isaac Newton.

Mosaic ethnology is not an eighteenth century invetion but is the common
heritage of peoples of the book, Jews, Christians and Muslims.  It was 
common place in Muslim histories that Indians were descendents of Ham 
(son of Noah) and they considered Indians as the first one of the seven 
ancients nations to have cultivated the sciences.

The whole ethnological story had to be contained within the time frame
constructed Archbishop Ussher.  According to Archbishop Ussher
God created the world in 4004 B.C. and the flood of Noah took place in
2349 B.C.  Jones rejected the ancient Indian doctrine of immense cycles of
time repeating endlessly and considered the flood narrative in Puranas as
independent confirmation of the flood.  Jones's reading of Indian chronology
is as follows:

   Adam         Manu I                    Krta yuga        4004 B.C.
   Noah         Many II                                    2948 B.C.
   The Flood    fish, tortoise and boar                    2349 B.C.
                avatars 
   Nimrod       Narsimha avatar           Treta yuga       2217 B.C.
   Bel          Bali avatar                                2105 B.C.
   Raamah       Rama avatar               Dvapara yuga     2028 B.C.
                Buddha avatar             Kali yuga        1026 B.C.

To Jones, Christianity was the only true religion and Europe's talents 
surpassed those of Asia.  Three faculties of mind: memory, reason and 
imagination were same everywhere; Asiatics excelled in imagination but 
reason and taste were grand prerogatives of European mind.  In Science, 
asiatics were "mere children."  The great scientific accomplishment of
India lay in past, and the study of Indian science was a contribution to
history and not to current science.  The British orientalists and their
antagonists on the continent agreed in rejection of Indian time and
superiority of European science.  In cultivating astronomy and and art
of navigation Hamians or Indians promoted the first beginnings of 
civilization, while in idolatory they had first departed from the pure
original religion of Noah.  Jones tends to identify teachings of Veda
with a primitive monotheism.